
	Asian Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances
	Year: 2011 \| Volume: 6 \| Issue: 6 \| Page No.: 609-617 DOI: 10.3923/ajava.2011.609.617

The Effects of Dietary Supplementation with Spirulina platensis in Growing Rats

P.S.S. Sixabela, E. Chivandi, M. Badenhorst and K.H. Erlwanger

Abstract: Spirulina is a nutritional supplement that has gained worldwide popularity due to its high nutritional content. Although the spirulina based products are mainly targeted at adult humans there is an increased use of the supplements by young children and animal owners might feed spiruline to their pets or livestock which could have long term and irreversible effects on them. The effect of Spirulina platensis on the viscera, morphology and morphometry of growing rats was investigated in 23 female Sprague Dawley rats. The rats were randomly divided into 3 groups. Group 1 served as a control, group 2 received low dose of 150 mg kg^-1 Spirulina daily, and group 3 received a high dose of 1500 mg kg^-1 daily to investigate its possible adverse effects. After three and a half weeks of supplementation all groups of rats showed a significant body mass gain. Spirulina significantly increased tibial length (ANOVA; p = 0.0073) and visceral fat (p = 0.0013) but there was no significant effect on the abdominal viscera morphology and morphometry. Spirulina did not cause any hepato-toxicity as measured by blood alanine amino transaminase and histology.

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How to cite this article:

P.S.S. Sixabela, E. Chivandi, M. Badenhorst and K.H. Erlwanger, 2011. The Effects of Dietary Supplementation with Spirulina platensis in Growing Rats. Asian Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 6: 609-617.

DOI: 10.3923/ajava.2011.609.617

URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ajava.2011.609.617

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